chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey thinks very highly of hagel and confident about his abilities after speaking to him in private. >> i'm not going to grade his homework. i will say in my conversations with him he was well prepared, articulate, concise. >> you are confident that he can do the job? >> i'm not going to speak about confidence. he could be my boss. >> harris: steve centanni live with the news from d.c. right now steve, his supporters trying to stem the tide against hagel, what are they saying? >> well, leon panetta the current defense secretary defended hagel saying it was partisan politics that led to the fierce questioning by members of the armed services committee on capitol hill. listen. >> it's pretty obvious that the political knives were out for chuck hagel. >> this was totally part shan? >> what disappointed me is that, you know, they talked a lot about past quotes but what about what a secretary of defense is confronting today. we just did not see enough time spent on discussing those issues and in the end that's what counts. >> well, pan